


an end once and for all

by Sintharius



Series: Reaper76 Week 2017 [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 22:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9349445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sintharius/pseuds/Sintharius
Summary: Not for the first time, Gabriel wonders why he was so insistent on pursuing this job – when it’s the opposite of everything he wanted.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 2 of Reaper76 week: “In His Shoes” (role/body swapping)
> 
> Please let me know if there are grammar errors - English is not my first language!

An Overwatch agent stopped him on his way back to the office after lunch break.

“Strike Commander Reyes, the UN rep is waiting for you on vid comm.”

Gabriel nodded. “Acknowledged, agent. Dismissed.”

The agent saluted him before running off, probably to training. Or some other… stuff that Overwatch agents do in their free time. He hasn’t been Strike Commander long enough to know them well. Yet.

As he trudged back to his office for the meeting with the UN, Gabriel mulled over his new job. Faces different from the ones he knew. Methods different, and sometimes opposite, to what he usually employ in Blackwatch. The tension between the former Blackwatch leader - now Strike Commander - and the Overwatch agents were palpable, sometimes so thick it could be cut with a knife.

He knew Ana, Reinhardt and the others were doing what they can to ease his transition from Blackwatch into Overwatch, however Gabriel couldn’t help but feel _wrong_.

 _(Unfamiliar territory. Overwatch ceased being_ his  _a long time ago._

_It was Jack's.)_

Gabriel braced himself as he arrived at his office and switched on the secure comm channel. It was time to face the music.

***

The meeting with the UN was, in all manners of speaking, a powder keg waiting to explode. Not losing his temper in front of those morons took a lot more effort than he thought. Cold-hearted men and women in fancy suits pulling every string attached to both organizations.

Not for the first time, Gabriel wonders why he was so insistent on pursuing this job – when it’s the opposite of everything he wanted. Tons of paperwork. Stuck behind a desk while agents are dying on the field. Administration work that he know nothing about. Casualities being deemed acceptable. And worst of all, the UN pulling their leash on him at every turn.

He thought he understood what Jack did. Only now that the reason became apparent to him.

_(With the UN breathing down his neck, Jack did not have a lot of room to maneuver._

_He did the best with what he got, and Gabriel did not know.)_

Gabriel wished he could apologize to Jack about treating him badly, but Jack could no longer hear anything.

***

Walking to the medbay was hard, but he forced himself to make the trip. It had become a regular part of his routine, ever since he became Strike Commander. Since Jack-

Room 301. A young doctor was standing in front of the closed door, clipboard in hand. She stood to attention when she saw Gabriel coming towards her. “Strike Commander, sir.”

“At ease, doc.” The doctor relaxed, although he could sense unease in her. “How is he?”

She hesitated. Gabriel could see the brief conflict in her eyes, before she finally spoke – as if it physically pained her to say what she knew out loud. And in a way, it did.

“…No change, sir. I know Doctor Ziegler told you-”

“Thank you. Can I see him?”

She nodded wordlessly, before stepped to the side to let him in. He thought he saw a flicker of pity in her eyes, but he dismissed the thought as he pushed open the door and stepped inside. Some people knew too much about his relationship with Jack – he didn’t need their pity added into it.

The room was just like any other hospital room. White sterile walls and medical equipment glinting in the low light. The permeating smell of antiseptic. The beeping and hissing of life support machinery. And a drawn white curtain separated the room in two, hiding the patient from view.

If Gabriel didn’t know about the patient in the room, it would have been just like a regular medbay visit when one of them got hurt on their mission. Not this time.

 _(And as Gabriel swallowed the lump in his throat, would never be again._ )

Somebody left a chair next to the door, probably out of courtesy after noticing their boss’ frequent visit to this room. Gabriel hefted it in his arm as he come to a stop in front of the curtain.

Just another visit, he told himself. No running away now.

_(They stopped having civil conversations long ago, but Gabriel will always care for Jack._

_The only thing the promotion did not break.)_

With a deep breath, Gabriel pulled the curtain aside.

Jack Morrison laid on the hospital bed, unmoving and quiet.

Blond hair, formerly long and slightly over regulations ( _Gabriel used to tease him about that_ ), was shaved down to a buzzcut. A hospital gown covers most of his body; what little exposed skin there was were covered in IV lines and tubes. What was visible of his face was ashen pale, the tan from field work long gone - a ventilator tube and medical tape concealed the rest. The bulk of his muscles were gone, atrophied after months of being bedridden. Jack looked like he was sleeping... a deep sleep that he would never come back from.

The Jack Morrison in front of his eyes was no longer the sweet Indiana farmboy in Gabriel's fondest memories, or even the stern soldier that was Strike Commander Morrison. This was a dying man waiting for his release in death.

 _(It hurt him to see Jack like this, gasping for breath in a hospital bed while hooked up to machines just to stay alive._ _)_

The chair went next to the bed as Gabriel sat down before taking Jack’s hand into his own. A gentle squeeze produced no reactions – he knew that – but he did it anyway. An old habit back from their time in the SEP, all the way through the Omnic Crisis and well into Overwatch, to check if the other was alive. When they had loved each other beyond words.

_(The promotion had soured their relationship to the point of nonexistence, all because of his anger and bitterness._

_He tried to ignore the sting of guilt in his chest, and failed._ )

“Hey Jack.”

Gabriel closed his eyes before leaning his forehead into Jack’s hand, and tried not to cry.

***

_(five months ago)_

_The mission was a trap. Faulty intel had resulted in the Overwatch team walking straight into an enemy ambush, and somehow the terrorists were able to get their hands on some old Bastion units. What was supposed to be a simple hostage rescue turned into a bloodbath._

_When the Blackwatch team arrived at the site, Gabriel had to briefly avert his eyes at the sight of dead bodies strewn across the concrete. The hostages were safely extracted, but the resulting gunfight had ended in the death of both the terrorists and the Overwatch team._

_All except one._

_Strike Commander Jack Morrison was found barely alive. Multiple bullet wounds to the chest and abdomen, severe cranial trauma, both legs broken. The only thing that kept him from dying was the SEP enhancements – according to Ziegler, no normal human being should have been able to survive that much injury._

_And he did not come back from that unscarthed._

_Irreversible coma from massive trauma and severe blood loss. Jack was not going to wake up._

_(Before that, Gabriel thought he still had time to get Jack back._

_The diagnosis bought him to his knees.)_

***

_The UN report was a nightmare. What followed was even worse._

_It was a miracle when Angela Ziegler successfully persuaded the UN to let her work on Jack, instead of following through with their original decision to let Jack die and replace him with a successor. Gabriel had to admit that Angela can be really stubborn when she put her mind to it, especially when her friends are involved._

_The UN gave her a timeframe, to fix his situation somehow. Six months._

_If the allotted time was up and Jack’s condition had not improved, he would be removed._

_(Gabriel hated that word. A sugarcoated label for cold-blooded murder)_

_In the meantime the next Strike Commander would be chosen, to keep the machine that is Overwatch running._

_And that was how Gabriel Reyes found himself in the position of Strike Commander one morning._

***

_Contrary to some people's expectations, Gabriel had a hard time taking to the position. Having worked with Blackwatch for a long time, he found it difficult to return to the spotlight after being out of it for so long. Overwatch felt like a coat that hadn't been worn for a long time, and was now too big for his frame. His grief over Jack hadn't helped. Ana had to help him with most of the work as his second in command, and he was glad for her presence._

_He kept telling himself that he was only doing this for Jack. That Angela would be able to fix Jack, and they would return to their respective positions. Maybe he could try and fix their relationship while he was at it - at least he wanted Jack to be able to talk to him again._

_(They were only lies, bringing nothing but false hope and heartbreak._

_He knew that, and yet he refused to acknowledge it._

_The thought of losing Jack for good was too much, even if they barely spoke anymore.)_

***

Gabriel had lost track of time. Sitting there with his head on Jack’s hand, careful not to disturb the IV lines. A shadow of the intimacy they used to have.

He was losing hope.

Angela’s attempts to revive Jack had proven unsuccessful. The UN was getting impatient, and Gabriel knew several representatives have voted to have Jack taken off life support – keeping him alive was a waste of resources, they say. There were even rumors of forcibly euthanising him if Overwatch refused to follow orders; the thought of Jack being put down like an animal made Gabriel’s stomach lurch.

He had never hated anything more than the UN in that moment. Heartless bastards, throwing away their star soldier like it was nothing.

( _Gabriel wondered if the same fate would befall him one day. Given the line of work, it was more than likely._ )

The visits to the medbay started up shortly after the UN’s decision. He wanted to be with Jack in what little time he had left, although he knew there was no point doing it now that Jack was no longer able to reciprocate.

He was left with regrets and pain every time, but he kept coming.

( _Losing Jack was not worth the position. Nothing was.)_

***

_(three weeks later)_

They were running out of time.

Angela was growing frantic. She contacted every possible specialist around the world, even creating a few new inventions of her own. But nothing succeeded in bringing Jack back.

( _He could not fault Angela for trying. She was doing what she can, but she was not a miracle worker._ )

Nothing Gabriel said would have stopped the UN’s hands. He had long ran out of options to save Jack.

The only thing he could make himself ready for was Jack’s eventual passing.

For now, Gabriel closed his eyes against Jack’s still hand and wept.

( _He would have given anything to have Jack back and whole one more time. Then he could tell Jack how stupid he had been, breaking their relationship over a stupid promotion. To apologize for all his mistakes. To be loved again._

 _But he can’t._ )

**Author's Note:**

> [An End Once And For All - Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut Soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLxv_g_zQkY)
> 
> Come by my [Tumblr](www.sintharius.tumblr.com)!


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